Annual Conference

Registration: $3,150
Spouse: $400
Late Registration: $3,450 (begins September 1)

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4

Registration
Welcome Reception

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5

Conference Opens
Speaker & Breakout Sessions
Reception & Dinner 

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6

Keynote Speaker & Breakout Sessions
Exhibitor Networking
Award Ceremony
Golf Outing

View the full agenda here

Packaging Megatrends – Sustainability and Opportunities in Molded Fiber

Abhinav Goel, Partner, McKinsey & Company
Daniel Nordigaarden, Partner, McKinsey & Company

Sustainability in packaging has finally hit a tipping point globally, regulations are accelerating and consumer preferences are shifting as their understanding of sustainability evolves. Molded fiber is emerging as an alternate packaging substrate for various applications and has witnessed significant investment and growth recently. In this session we will share our latest thinking on the key mega-trends affecting the $1Trillion Global Packaging Industry, including trends in molded fiber space and opportunities ahead.

About Daniel Nordigaarden and Abhinas Goel

Abhinav Goel is a Partner with McKinsey & Company based in Pittsburgh, USA. He is a core leader of McKinsey’s Packaging Service Line and serves clients across all packaging types: plastic, paper, glass and metal. Abhinav serves packaging clients globally on topics such as: strategy, M&A, sustainability and growth. Prior to McKinsey, Abhinav has worked in consumer packaging industry in India for 6 years across various leadership roles. He also co-leads McKinsey’s Sustainable Packaging Hub that provides cutting edge insights on packaging including consumer trends.

Daniel Nordigaarden is a Partner with McKinsey & Company based in Toronto, Canada. He is a core leader of McKinsey’s Packaging Service Line and serves clients globally, focused exclusively on the paper & packaging industry. Daniel has deep expertise across packaging substrates, end uses, and regions as well as extensive experience in strategy, operations, sustainability, and private equity. He also co-lead McKinsey’s global work around “Packaging 2030” and “Sustainability in packaging”.

4evergreen Alliance: Fibre-based Packaging Industry in Action for a Circular Future

Susanne Haase, Program Director, 4evergreen Alliance

4evergreen is a unique alliance bringing together more than 100 companies from the entire value chain, all committed to perfecting fibre-based packaging circularity for a greener world. Their goal is to increase the recycling rate of fibre-based packaging up to 90& by 2023. Together, they are working in four key areas with exceptional intensity: evaluating packaging recyclability, designing for circularity, advising effective collection and sorting, and exploring innovative recycling and sorting technologies and techniques. For each area, they are developing a series of guidelines and protocols that will help the industry develop increasingly sustainable packaging solutions.

About Susanne Haase

Susanne Haase is the Program Director of the 4evergreen Alliance since May 2020. The goal of the alliance, an initiative of Cepi (Confederation of European Paper Industries), is to boost the contribution of fibre-based packaging in the circular economy. Susanne Haase, an experienced editor, and award-winning journalist has been enthusiastically reporting on the international pulp and paper industry, its supply chains and product converting, for more than 15 years. Susanne has authored numerous articles in her career that have underlined the importance of cross-value chain collaboration to drive circularity and the role of fibre-based products in mitigating climate change. As Program Director of 4evergreen, she is in a good position to help drive the mission forward. Publications for which Susanne has been responsible for as Editor-in-Chief include journals like ipw (International Paperworld), Paperazzo and Biofibre Magazine. In addition, she has worked as chief reporter for APR (Aktuelle Papier-Rundschau).

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Regulatory Compliance: Access to the Market

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Huqiu Zhang, Senior Chemist, Sevee & Maher Engineers

The presentation will briefly introduce global regulations on paper food packaging and food contact materials with a focus on the US, EU, China, and other markets. Discuss strategies how to ensure safety and regulatory compliance, manage safety perceptions and keep up with the regulatory landscape changes, play ahead of the game to access global markets.

About Huqiu Zhang
Huqiu Zhang holds a PhD in organic chemistry. She provides regulatory and technical consultation to consumer product and food industries, chemical and food contact material industries, and their supply chains in the areas of chemicals safety, global regulatory compliance, and sustainability. Her expertise includes regulatory compliance strategies and implementation; new materials and recycled materials pre-market clearance, approval, and compliance; supply chain chemical management program and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP); business Due Diligence, chemical hazard identification, exposure evaluation and risk assessment.

Huqiu is currently a senior chemist at Sevee & Maher Engineers.  Her more than 25 years of working experiences extends to the whole supply chain of food packaging and consumer product, with chemical industry (BASF/Ciba Specialty Chemical); material and compounding industry (GE Plastics/SABIC); food/beverage industry (The Coca Cola Company); Testing, Inspection and Certification Industries (Intertek). She played the critical role in opening technical communication channel between the US FDA and China MOH agencies.  She is on Board of Technical Advisor for Zymtronix, and past board members for industry associations.

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New Technology for Thin Film Lamination of Molded Fiber Products

Conor Carlin, Managing Director, ILLIG North America LP

Over the past several years, public pressure combined with new governmental regulations has led to an increased interest in non-fossil-based packaging materials. As such, paper-based materials including cardboard and molded fiber are being explored for a wider range of packaging applications. The functional benefits of polymeric materials, however, can be difficult to replicate in their cellulosic counterparts, especially with regard to shelf life and barrier properties, e.g., oxygen, water, and greases.  Furthermore, legislation regarding PFAS chemicals, previously used in many coatings, has forced converters to find alternative pathways to sustainable package designs. New developments in plant-based or other bio-based films combined with existing pulp manufacturing techniques offer a potential new substrate structure that meets market needs.  In 2022, ILLIG developed a new modular machine concept for laminating pulp and cardboard packaging with very thin-film bio-based materials. In May 2023, the new PLU40 was introduced at Interpack in Dusseldorf. This “pulp laminating unit” will be explored in greater detail at IMFA 2023.

About Conor Carlin

Conor Carlin is the Managing Director of ILLIG North America LP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ILLIG Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG., a Germany-based designer and manufacturer of thermoforming, tooling, and packaging systems. Carlin has 20 years of international experience in packaging machinery, tooling, and advanced materials. Carlin is a member of the Executive Board of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and a member of Institute of Packaging Professionals (IOPP). In 2020 he was elected as the first VP of Sustainability for SPE and edits publications for their Thermoforming and Recycling Divisions. Carlin has delivered papers and contributed articles on plastics and sustainability for international industry press in the US, Europe, and Asia. He is the co-author of “Plastics & Sustainability: Grey is the New Green” published by Scrivener/Wiley. Carlin holds a BA from Boston University (Boston, MA) and an MBA from the FW Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College (Wellesley, MA). He lives in the Greater Boston area with his wife and three children.

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Sustainability for Conventional and Alternative Fibers

Ronalds Gonzalez, PhD, Associate Professor, Naycari Forfora, PhD student, North Carolina State University

The market dynamics have been reshaped by digitalization, changes in social behavior, and climate change. Conventional and alternative fibers, which are renewable sources of cellulose, have been identified as a means of producing a variety of products such as molded items, tissue, packaging, and textiles. However, the sustainability of these fibers and the comparison between options have not undergone systematic studies, leading consumers to often identify alternative fibers as more sustainable. The SAFI consortium is dedicated to evaluating and developing consumer goods in the context of the entire supply chain, from sourcing to consumer perception, with a particular focus on studying the carbon footprint of such products. Consequently, our results will provide a holistic overview of the intrinsic relationship between fiber source, conversion process, and final use.

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Global Capacity Outlook for Type 3 Molded Fiber Packaging

Alexander Koukoulas, Director, Afry Management Consulting, Inc.

In response to growing demand, newly announced capacity expansions and capital investments in molded fiber have been seen, with more are expected in the near future. Since molded fiber production is dominated by small and fragmented producers, visibility to global capacity development is limited. In this presentation, we will examine the drivers for growth and discuss the expectations for capacity developments in response to continued growth. We will also discuss how technical challenges in meeting certain end-use performance requirements may limit growth potential, especially in food service applications, and discuss how these may be overcome.

About Alexander Koukoulas
Alexander Koukoulas is a Director in the Bioindustry Division of AFRY Management Consulting, a global consulting, design, and engineering services company employing over 19,000 analysts, scientists, and engineers in over 50 countries. Dr. Koukoulas joined AFRY in 2022, where he is responsible for providing strategic advisory services to clients in the pulp & paper, packaging, nonwovens, biofuels, biochemicals and related industries. Prior to joining AFRY, Dr. Koukoulas held senior leadership positions at International Paper and Albany International. He was founder of A2K Consultants LLC and president and CEO of the Herty Advanced Materials Development Center.

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The Relevance of Molded Fiber Lamination in a Plastic-restrictive Framework

Salvador Diaz, Sales Director, Hamer Packaging Technology
Pol Casado, Ecological Business Unit Manager, Hamer Packaging Technology

The molded fiber industry is becoming increasingly significant while the growing the regulatory landscape limits the use of plastics in single-use packaging. However, certain functions still require a specific amount of plastic to be incorporated. Although basic barrier requirements can be met by adjusting the fiber mixture composition, high barrier properties can only be attained by laminating with a thin layer of plastic, complying with the most recent legal standards.

About Salvador Diaz
Sales & Marketing Director and Board member at Hamer with over 10 years of experience in the engineered packaging solution’s market. In the past 5 years, he has led the company’s expansion into new markets and territories and is now a key part of strategic management, with a focus on pushing the Ecological division forward.

About Pol Casado
Business Unit Manager of the Ecological Division at Hamer, leading the development of fiber thermoforming and lamination projects and the expansion of this division worldwide. Pol brings the skills and knowledge of his previous experience as Sales Area Manager for packaging projects, with a focus on European markets.

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Microfibrillated Cellulose (MFC): A Bio-Binder Enhancing Strength and Barrier Priorities In Fiber-Based Systems

Tom Larson, Head Of Business Development, Fiberlean Technologies

As the packaging industry urgently needs more sustainable, yet functionally and economically viable alternatives to plastic and PFAS, there are not many options available. However, MFC can be used to radically enhance the strength properties of molded pulp products whilst concurrently improving the effectiveness of any sizing agents or barrier products being used. The net effect is the potential to reduce article weight with maintained mechanical properties, and lower the consumption of barrier products and coatings. In some cases, it is possible to completely eliminate the use of petroleum or fluorochemistry-based technologies. These advantages, taken collectively, can significantly improve the sustainability, performance, and economics, enabling the molded fiber producer to bring a unique offering in the evolving fiber-based molded product market.

About Tom Larson

Based in the UK, Tom is Head of Business Development for Paper and Board for FiberLean. Tom holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and has over a decade of experience implementing MFC innovations in the paper and packaging industry. Tom is primarily responsible for leading the industrial scale-up and commercialisation of MFC for surface coating and moulded fibre applications.

If you have signed up for golf or plan to sign up, please read the below information to best prepare you for the competition.

The Mountain Shadows Resort Golf course is an 18-hole par 3 course which makes for a pretty user-friendly format already. To add to the ease and enjoyment and to encourage as many “non-serious golfers” as possible, we will play a “Texas Scramble” format with a small twist to the number of drives used by any one member. Here are the rules for this format:

"What is a Texas Scramble?"

Texas Scramble is a form of competition in golf consisting of 3 or 4 players per team. Each player tees off per hole and as a group, you then decide which of the shots you should take. Once you've decided which tee shot to take all players retrieve their balls and take the second shot from the agreed position. You then repeat the process with each shot until the ball is in the hole. As a team, you only return one score per hole and the lowest team score overall wins.

More often than not you'll find that you have to take at least one of each player's tee shots at some point but that's for the competition hosts to decide. It adds a little bit of strategic planning to the round.

"How do the handicaps work in Texas Scramble?"

There's never been a set-in-stone rule and each competition host may do things differently. The most common rule would be 10% of the combined total of all handicaps. So, say you were a team of four with handicaps 7, 14, 17 & 20. The combined total is 58 and 10% of this is 5.8. So, you'd take 5.8 off your score at the end.

Often you'll also find that you don't round your score up or down at the end, so if you have the above handicap and shoot 70, your score will go in as 64.2 exactly.

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As you can see, the pressure off the T box is removed. This format also ensures that we don’t spend hours in the bush looking for balls!

Since it is a par 3 course and any one four ball with a very low handicap player would almost guarantee a best drive on or very close to the green which would make it all too easy against a four ball of Sunday or non-golfers. To this end we will limit the maximum number of “Drives/ T box shots” chosen for any one member of the four ball, to 7. Once someone has had 7 of their drives used as the chosen/best ball, they can obviously still T off, but their drive cannot be chosen. When scoring a hole make an Asterix in the hole and team members name whose drive was used, this way you can keep count of how many you have used.

On the Handicaps, if you have an official club handicap you can play off that, if not you will be given an 18 handicap for the competition. We will then apply the scoring as explained above.

There will be a prize for the winning 4 ball as well as nearest the pin for 1 shot on the 9^th and the 18^th. Wagers between 4 balls is encouraged! Please try and hang around after for an informal prize-giving.

We look forward to playing with you!

See all Sponsorship Opportunities here.

GOLD SPONSORS

Welcome Reception
FTT (Fiber Thermoforming Technologies)
At FTT we design and manufacture world-class fiber thermoforming equipment for sustainable packaging. Our machinery, developed over years of R&D, delivers a drastic reduction to both cycle and retooling time, enabling packaging manufacturers to increase throughput, reduce energy consumption and respond quickly to ever-evolving customer needs.

Our mission is to deliver cutting-edge technology that drives the world’s transition to environmentally sustainable packaging.

Attendees Dinner
Kiefel Technologies
For 60 years, Kiefel has been a market leader in design and manufacture of plastics processing as well as natural fibers. We are thermoforming and joining technology specialists and our global sales and service network has representatives around the world.

Awards Show
W.S. Tyler
For over 150 years, W.S. Tyler^® has been a leader in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of woven wire cloth and mesh materials.

SILVER SPONSORS

Company/Product Spotlight
Abbott Furnace Company
Abbott Furnace Company is a continuous industrial furnace manufacturer with 40 years of experience designing and producing some of the industry’s most reliable and high-performing industrial continuous belt furnaces.

Company/Product Spotlight
AIM Sweden
AIM Sweden AB is truly a knowledge-based company, founded as a commercial spin-off from the Mid Sweden University in Östersund, Sweden, with the mission to supports customers in selected target markets to capture the full potential of metal Additive Manufacturing.

We apply our additive manufacturing expertise from initial idea, through feasibility studies, design optimization, process optimization and qualification to serial production.

Company/Product Spotlight
Kemira Global
We at Kemira are in the business of chemistry expertise. Safe, sustainable chemistries are a part of good life, ensuring hygiene, safe water, food safety and more.

We are the chosen partners for water-intensive industries worldwide, helping our customers design for efficiency, reuse resources, and revitalize natural systems. With over 100 years of experience, we partner with municipal water utilities, pulp, paper, board and tissue producers and companies in the energy sector to deliver visible improvements with our invisible enabler – the chemistry expertise of our 5,000 people.

Company/Product Spotlight
PulPac
In just a few years, we pioneered fiber molding. With our expertise and passion, we turned a global need into an economical, well-proven, and responsible solution.

We provide plastic and fiber packaging producers with technology and a manufacturing method for sustainable packaging that meets industry needs for scalability, production rates, and cost efficiency. At a closer look, you’ll realize there are so many advantages to Dry Molded Fiber.

FRIEND SPONSORS

Dalton Electric
For nearly 100 years, Dalton Electric Heating Co., Inc., has manufactured industrial heaters. Today, Dalton's patented Watt-Flex® Cartridge Heaters and Diff-Therm ® Platen Heaters are used throughout the world in manufacturing industries such as the aerospace, automotive, composites, plastics, and many other industries.

Recycled Paperboard Technical Association (RPTA)
The Recycled Paperboard Technical Association (RPTA) is dedicated to the improvement and use of recycled paperboard and related products. RPTA supports training, scientific research, product stewardship, materials investigations, benchmarking and survey work. These efforts enable our members to improve the conservation and utilization of raw materials and energy which, in turn, enables them to improve product and manufacturing quality.

AFRY
At AFRY, we engineer change in everything we do, from the solutions that we create to how we strike a healthy work life balance. We do this with a higher purpose, to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable society. That’s how we're making future.